Swinging my blade at him at full force from the side, our blades met as he did the same motion. The ringing of metal clashing against metal resonated over and over as we matched each other's strikes. The feeling of animosity between the two of us could be felt among the crowd but none could tell who had the upper hand. To be frank, neither did we. He was the better swordsman but I was significantly faster and thus, we could barely put a scratch on the other from this point on.

Merlin who had exhausted his magic summoning the warriors now sat and watched in disturbing awe of how equal of a playing field we had. However, what he and I didn’t know was that Arthur was simply biding his time. Waiting for an opening to strike me down. The moment he found one though he went for it, only to be stopped by Compton’s shortsword being shot in front of him from the ground. The surprise attack put him off guard so I went in for the final blow. That said, it wouldn’t be that easy.

Arthur contorted his body in a split second and deflected my stab. Stepping back a few feet he made it very obvious that he pulled his arm out of place to do such a maneuver. Then with such skill and lack of care he pressed his arm back into place with a pop. I didn’t even have time to attack him before he charged at me again. Deflecting his blow to my left side I lunged forward and attempted to punch him with my right hand, only for him to turn his body in a spinning motion to avoid it.

Following this, he swung at me with a barrage of blows that were fast even for me. The speed in which he attacked was inhuman and made it difficult to do anything more than block. The moment he let up for even a second I swept my leg out. Since he was midstrike he hadn’t fully planted his foot and was completely thrown off balance. As he fell backwards I tried to bring my sword down on him but he was still able to deflect it as he fell. As if the sword itself was protecting him.

Since he couldn’t fight me while laying on the ground he rolled away from me to avoid my jabs and returned to his feet. Though I knew it wasn’t likely to work I pulled out my knife. He charged at me once again but this time instead of readying myself I threw my knife at him. As I thought he deflected it and kept going but the knife came back at him. He was barely able to see it as it came at his stomach from the side but that didn’t stop him from dodging it. I charged at him while doing the best I could to keep him distracted with my flying knife.

Running towards him once again I swung my sword at him from my right side. Rather than blocking it he fell to the ground to dodge both it and my knife. As he hit the ground though he rolled to the side just in time to miss Compton’s sword that shot out of a small portal. I stabbed at him but he kept rolling away until he could get back up but as he got to his knee he noticed that his pant leg was sewn into the earth with red thread. Bringing my sword on top of him I stopped just before it hit him as he dropped Excalibur to show he was surrendering. He had lost.

The crowd stood in a mix of awe and disbelief that their King could lose. The one who had beaten every knight in the Round Table was defeated for the first time. Even his wife and the other woman sat in shock at what they had witnessed. Since I had won though I sheathed my sword and held out my hand for Arthur. Looking down the thread that had sewn his pant leg to the ground dissipated and so Arthur took my hand and stood up.

“I’m getting too old for this.” Arthur said as he rubbed his back.

“Perhaps.” I replied with a chuckle.

“So what shall you name your sword?” Arthur asked.

“... Name it?” I questioned.

“Yes, all swords must have a name. You should pick one.” Arthur said as he patted me on the back and the two of us walked up to the stand. Once up there he had me get down on one knee where he held out excalibur.

“Sir Micheal, for beating me in fair combat I now make you a knight of the Round Table. Use your newfound title and help us bring peace to the world. Though since you have beaten me you will also be given your maid servant as your own as well as a small amount of gold.” Arthur said as he tapped each of my shoulders. “Now rise.”

Standing up the crowd cheered. Some were worried about the King but enjoyed the duel enough to not care for the time being. Other knights of the Round Table congratulated me and I was carried off by some of them into the dining hall where a feast was prepared and fine liquor was being distributed. Some got drunk and begged me to fight them while others who weren’t drunk did the same, albeit in a nicer fashion.

Medea was swept up in the crowd but eventually made her way to me where she insisted on pouring me drink after drink. She seemed happy to hear that she was now my personal servant rather than a maid servant of the castle, which reminded me. I still needed Mordred to do something for me. Doing my best to sneak away I called for Mordred to come out of the pendent. Sure enough she did. She was dressed like one of the common peasant women from the village.

“Do you know where she went?” I asked.

“No, but I can ask around. She’s very well known around here so I’m sure I can find her. Plus, she can only go three different ways and only left an hour ago.” Mordred said.

“Thank you for doing this.” I said.

“Whatever, just know that I’m only doing this because you were able to get my legs healed.” she said before she started walking off.

“Technically, Oberon and Titania were the ones that did that but whatever.” I said to myself before going back to the feast.